Brave Maximus's Review of:Takara #10(a) Laserbeak reissue

Name: LaserbeakAllegiance: DecepticonAlt-Mode: CassetteFunction: InterrogationFirst Cartoon Appearance: G1 - More Than Meets the Eye, Part 1Motto: " "The only point I like in Autobots: Melting point."

Laserbeak takes pleasure in hunting his prey -- usually the straggling survivors of a battle. Noticeably not brave. Will run for safety if threatened. Flies at speeds up to 250mph. Uses two independently targetable laser cannons with extreme precision to get information from capitves. Shortage of ruby crystals that powers the lasers can panic his systems into shutting down.

Just like Soundwave, Laserbeak originally came from the Microman line. Strangely enough, when Soundwave first came out, he was not packaged with Laserbeak, but Buzzsaw (a repaint of Laserbeak). When it came time for Takara to reissue Soundwave, however, they chose to pair him with his more familiar partner. In the original Generation One series, Laserbeak was a spy used by Soundwave and Megatron to infiltrate the Autobots base and to generally cause havoc. No wonder everyone loved him.....

Alt Mode:

Like all of Soundwave's little minions, Laserbeak's alternate mode is a cassette. He is based on the micro-cassette that most people used for personal memo takers (before digital). He sits only 2" wide, but fits nicely into Soundwave's chest compartment.

As with all Generation one figures, there's a side you're supposed to see, and a side that is supposed to stay hidden. As Laserbeak is meant to sit in Soundwave's chest, you would only be able to see one side. This side has a bunch of stickers meant to look like a cassette. They are primarily silver and orange with black details. There is an "A" indicating which side it is, as well as the two spools of tape. The e moulded in black plastic, with space for them to turn. He also features a "60" indicating his length and a mark proclaiming him to be a "metal position" tape. All nice little details. Just below the "window" where you can see the tape is a heat-rub Decepticon symbol.

Unfortunately, if you flip him over, all his robot kibble shows, but you're really not meant to look there, so don't .....

Robot Mode:

Laserbeak is supposed to be a condor or some other bird of prey in his "robot" mode. While it is obvious that he is some sort of bird, that's about as far as it goes. This is no normal bird, though; his back sports rocket\jet engines with blasters on the side. His head is angular with a wickedly hooked beak. His legs are flat and allow him to nicely sit anywhere (including Soundwave's arm, which is nice), and his wings pivot out to the side.

His primary colours are red and black, but most of the red is on his main body and hidden under the engines. The engines themselves are chrome and quite large. Each wing is outlined in black, but stickers make up a lot of the tech details. Laserbeak's head is black, and, in this reissue, sports a Decepticon sticker. Also in this reissue, his eyes are painted yellow. There's actually a bit of detail on his back, including a moulded tail, but again, they are covered by the thrusters. The thrusters themselves feature large exhaust vents at the back (with dove tailed feature.... yeah, easy joke, so I'll leave it), and each one has a vertical stabilizer tail, intake ports, and laser blasters on the side. And no, they do not detach like in More Than Meets the Eye.

Poseability: Laserbeak actually features 8 points of articulation. This is impressive, as he's basically Minicon\Micromaster size. Each wing has 2 points, and his neck features 2. His legs can move from side to side, to get some funny poses. If you really want to stretch it, his thrusters can pivot as well.

Transformation: 3. Four steps, including attaching the thrusters - not hardDurability: 9. He's a solid little guy, featuring a good amount of metal. Worst parts are the stickers. Treat them nicely though, and they'll lastFun: 9. I love the little guy. You can do just about anything with him.Price: 10. As he's free with SoundwaveOverall: 9. He's a great toy. If you don't have him, buy Soundwave - you'll get him too, and won't regret it.